The Soundtrack To The Year That Was 2025
Prologue
This was the year that I decided to cancel Spotify & go back to physical media as much as I possibly can so this list isn’t exhaustive as everything here is something I’ve bought physical copies of with some exceptions due to them not being available in a physical form currently. While I still do have a music streaming service (Qobuz) I now only use it for the purposes of discovering new music that I may want to buy alongside recommendations from friends.
Act 1 - Just The List
2025 Releases
- Sleep Token - Even In Arcadia
- Coheed & Cambria - The Father Of Make Believe New Entities Edition
- Snarky Puppy - Somni
- Jack Gardiner - Urushi
- Turnstile - Never Enough
- Dream Theater - Parasomnia
- Connor Kaminski - Tapestry
- Dayseeker - Creature In The Black Night
- Spiritbox - Tsunami Sea
Special Mentions
- Black Sabbath - The Ten Year War (No Links Sadly)
- Sleep Token - Take Me Back To Eden
Act 2 - The New Releases
These are in no particular order as how good of an album something is is entirely subjective so it ultimately feels pointless to assign them an arbitrary number.
Sleep Token - Even In Arcadia
Favorite Tracks - Emergence, Caramel, Past Self, Damocles.
There is absolutely no way in hell that this album wasn’t going to be on this wrap up list, it is far and away the best album of the year IMO. From the very first somber notes of “Look To Windward” to the absolutely crushing breakdown at the end of “Infinite Baths” not a single moment goes by where your mind is left wandering and wondering what’s next making it extremely difficult to pick my favorite tracks from the album. This album is the personification of 2025 for me.
Coheed & Cambria - The Father Of Make Believe (New Entities Edition)
Favorite Tracks - The Father Of Make Believe, One Last Miracle, The Continuum I, Key Entity Extraction IX
Coheed & Cambria back at it again with a follow up to 2022’s stunning Vaxis II A Window Of The Waking Mind, this isn’t their best release in the trilogy but it still has some absolutely amazing tracks and I highly recommend listening to the New Entities Edition over the original release as the four Key Entity Extraction tracks it added just add that special spark that wasn’t entirely there on the original version.
Snarky Puppy - Somni
Favorite Tracks - As You Are But Not As You Were, Chimera, Between Worlds
This release kind of came out of nowhere for me after having only heard Chimera and no other tracks from the album before release and I’m so happy it happened that way so I could experience the album from front to back without really having heard a majority of it weeks before hand. The album as a whole has a huge sound that just fills a room effortlessly while still being intricate and not crowded which is surprising given the large amount of instruments being played on every single track.
Jack Gardiner - Urushi
Favorite Tracks - Shibuya Meltdown, Sandglass, Mugen
This is just an EP that is mostly instrumental but it is every bit as good as every other album on this list, purely because of Jacks masterful playing and seemingly unstoppable ability to make me want to groove along to damn near any song he puts out.
Turnstile - Never Enough
Favorite Tracks - Never Enough, I Care
While this album isn’t as mind blowing as their previous effort Glow On it is still very much a solid record that I would consider as essential listening for anyone who likes their music heavy but not overly screamed vocals.
Dream Theater - Parasomnia
Favorite Tracks - In The Arms Of Morpheus, Night Terror, A Broken Man
Finally after 15 years apart the legendary Mike Portnoy is back on the sticks with Dream Theater and boy is it a glorious return to the Dream Theater of old. The first 3 tracks are an absolute statement of their intent to go to the wanky edges of prog and before you ask yes there is a very long track (19 minutes & 32 seconds to be exact) in here as is customary for the band.
Connor Kaminski - Tapestry
Favorite Tracks - Bergamot, Godtuner
This is an almost entirely instrumental (only one track has vocals) & heavy yet melodic release and until the moment I heard the tracks Godtuner & Bergamot ,which feature Olly Steele & Plini respectively, I had never even heard of the guy behind it so for it to make this list means it is surely special.
Dayseeker - Creature In The Black Night
Favorite Tracks - Pale Moonlight, Shapeshift, Nocturnal Remedy
The long awaited follow up to 2022’s Dark Sun and it was absolutely worth the wait. This album will absolutely pull at the strings of anyone who suffers from chronic depression and has experienced the loss of a loved one after watching them slowly fade away from a long battle with a health condition.
Spiritbox - Tsunami Sea
Favorite Tracks - Fata Morgana, Perfect Soul, Soft Spine
The follow up to 2021’s Eternal Blue but more intense, darker & aggressive but that doesn’t stop Courtney LaPlante from breaking it up & getting melodic in the choruses which adds a touch of relief & variety from the onslaught of the gutteral vocals found all over the album.
Act 3 - Special Mentions
Black Sabbath - The Ten Year War
Favorite Tracks - Paranoid, Iron Man, Children Of The Grave, Supernaut
Sadly no links for this one but search for the 2009 versions of Black Sabbaths first eight albums on your streaming service or music store.
This is kind of a cheat pick for two reasons, one because it’s a collection of the first eight Black Sabbath albums and two because this was a very limited Vinyl release from 2017 that contains the 2009 remasters, which are considered to be the best modern versions of those albums & the first four are essential listening. After the sad passing of one of the founding fathers of heavy music Ozzy Osbourne I felt like it was the right time to go back to the genres roots and rediscover where it all came from and damn was that a rough trip but very much worthwhile as it led me back to what I loved about the genre. The catchy guitar riffs on “Paranoid”, the punchy drums on “Children Of The Grave”, the slow sludgy crawl of “Iron Man” and never shying away from difficult and sometimes controversial subject matter.
Sleep Token - Take Me Back To Eden
Favorite Tracks - Chokehold, The Summoning, Ascensionism
This album has been an absolute godsend for processing a bunch of crap I have had to deal with in the past couple of years especially when paired with its follow up Even In Arcadia, if you like these I would highly recommend checking out the two previous albums by the band Sundowning & This Place Will Become Your Tomb
Epilogue
If you made it this far thanks for reading this it means a lot to me that you would take the time out of your day to do so, if you want to talk further about any of the albums in this wrap up or to share your own feel free to hit me up on Mastodon. Heres hoping for a better year for us all in 2026.